Shy
by Rad
Summary: ON HOLD!:: A quiet girl comes to Alexandria and a Titan slowly makes his way through romance with her.
1. The Move

Shy

Chapter 1: The Move

Author's Notes:

I don't own Remember the Titans characters, lines, or scenes. Many of the Titans belong to themselves and Disney's depiction of them belongs to Disney. I don't make any money off this, blah blah blah.

I'll be using some quotes and scenes directly from the movie, and I found a transcribed script Script-O-Rama dot com.

Some facts about the original Titans that I've used - or are based on for the story - come from '71 Original Titans website.

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A station wagon pulled into the driveway at 389 Grandview, Alexandria, Virginia, in the early evening of Wednesday, August 25, 1971. The station wagon was followed by a moving van. James E. Dawson stepped out of the driver's side and his daughter, Rose Ann Dawson, stepped out the passenger's side right after him.

Mr. Dawson took in a deep breath. "Smell that clean air. We didn't get this in the city now did we, Rose?"

Rose attempted to hide her eye roll. "Dad, I'm okay with the move. It's just going to take some time to get used to."

"I know honey, and I know you're going to miss your friends too. But the move was in our best interest. And I'm sure you'll make more friends." He hugged his daughter.

Mr. Dawson went to the movers and assisted them in hauling all the boxes and furniture into the garage of the house while Rose took a look inside. The main floor consisted of the two-stall garage, half bath, wash room, dining room and kitchen, a small room that would probably become her dad's office, and a living room. Rose took the stairs to the second floor.

The upstairs had a master bedroom and bath, two smaller bedrooms and a bath between them, and a small closet. A pull cord at the top of the stairs a few feet above Rose's head alerted her to the presence of the attic. Rose poked her head in the first bedroom, the one right next to the stairs, and then looked at the second. Both bedrooms were probably the same dimensions, but the second one had windows on two sides.

Rose went back downstairs to the garage to begin bringing her seven boxes up to the second bedroom. Four large boxes, three smaller ones and five trips later, Rose had all of her belongings, except a bed, in her new room. Rose heard the movers leave and went back downstairs. There was one couch in the living room and another in the dining area. The couch in the living room was in the middle, so only slightly out of place, but Rose was significantly confused about the couch in the dining room.

"Dad? Dad?" Rose hollered.

"In the garage, Honey," Mr. Dawson hollered back.

Rose found him in the garage rummaging through a box marked _'Dad – Work'_. "What are you looking for?"

"My planner. It has a bunch of phone numbers for places in Alexandria – or near it – in it. I figured we'd order pizza for tonight."

"Dad, it's in the other box." Rose pointed to another box that also read _'Dad – Work'_ on it.

"Oh. Well, you would know, wouldn't you? Seeing as how Miss Organized packed most of this stuff, huh?" He gave her a teasing grin.

Rose laughed. She had most certainly gotten her organizational skills from her mother, and not her slightly-scatterbrained father. Rose opened yet a third box of her father's work stuff and went digging for his check book, thoughts of her mother passing through her mind.

Julie Rosalyn Dawson had become Julie Rosalyn Maguire about a year and a half ago, and had been divorced from Rose's dad for about two years before that. Rose would be the first to admit that she missed her mother, but would also say that she didn't miss her that much. Mrs. Dawson-Maguire and her first husband and daughter had never seen eye-to-eye on the whole black-white situation. Plus, mother and daughter had been too alike personality-wise to get along very well.

Rose shook her head and pulled out her father's check book.

"Ah ha! You read my mind. I did wonder where you had put that."

"You're welcome, Dad. What are the two couches in the living and dining room for?"

"Us to sleep on. Remember, the beds from LaGrange were getting old and needed to be replaced anyway? Well, I decided that it would be a better idea to buy beds here. And other necessary appliances," he added as an after thought. "But there obviously isn't time to get them tonight. So the couches are what we'll sleep on in the mean time," Mr. Dawson explained. "I had hoped we'd get here an hour earlier, but that flat back in Pennsylvania prevented that. Ah well, it's all in God's hands."

"Oh," was Rose's only answer. She went upstairs and dug out Indian Captive to read for a bit while her dad called and ordered pizza.

"Hey Honey?" Mr. Dawson called upstairs after he was done on the phone.

"Yeah Dad?"

"When's Gerry due back from his camp so he can help us move in?"

"This Saturday, Dad."

Rose's Aunt Jean Bertier hadn't been on the best terms with the Dawsons since Julie had left James three and a half years ago. They also had different views on the "rising of those no good blacks" in her words. Still, she had volunteered cousin Gerry to help them move, if he had time. They had been invited to the Bertier's for Sunday dinner this coming weekend, so Aunt Jean was at least trying to be hospitable to her sister's ex-husband.

Rose sighed at the idiocies and complications in life and went back to her book until the doorbell rang and she came downstairs for a late supper.

Rose and her father used the box top for plates, and since they had gotten a small pizza there were no leftovers; which was a good thing, since there wasn't a refrigerator to put them in anyway.

Mr. Dawson glanced at his watch. "Wow, it's nearly ten o'clock. I think I'll turn in for the day. Packing and driving and unpacking took a lot out of me. Not to mention trying to change that tire." Both Dawsons laughed at the memory of Mr. Dawson, who wasn't much of a mechanic and therefore a slight hindrance to the movers, trying to help change the tire earlier that day.

"Good night Daddy," Rose pecked him on the cheek. "I think I might stay up for a bit longer and read upstairs, if that's okay."

"Of course it is, just don't stay up too long. I'll take the couch in the kitchen then, so you can find the one in the living room easy. Good night."

Rose went back upstairs and read for about an hour. She dug out her pajamas, toothbrush and toothpaste, her hair brush, the sheet from her bed, and her pillow; she changed in her room, and then proceeded to the bathroom. While brushing her just-past-shoulder-length hair Rose began to cry softly. Her hair had once been half way down her back and at the going-away party for her thrown by her best friend Amy it had been cut to where it was now. Amy had always begged to give Rose a new hair style, and Rose had finally given in to her friend. Rose missed her hair slightly, but missed her friends far more. _Eleven hours._ LaGrange was eleven hours away from Alexandria. She wiped the tears from her eyes and inhaled deeply. _We'll see each other, every summer break_, Amy and Rose had promised; one to Georgia or the other to Virginia. Rose brushed her teeth, grabbed her sheet and pillow and quietly went downstairs and lay down on the couch. It would take her a bit to fall asleep in this strange, new place, and to get used to a new home. But it would happen eventually.

---

A sleek, shining Camaro pulled into the driveway Saturday mid-afternoon and a tall dirty-blonde boy stepped out.

"Well hello Mr. Bertier!"

"Aw please Uncle James, I ain't old enough to be called 'Mr.' yet," Gerry Bertier chuckled as he shook Mr. Dawson's hand warmly.

"Hey Gerry," Rose said, giving her cousin a short hug. She looked up at him since he was at least four inches taller than her. "Gee, when _was_ the last family reunion? I think you've grown at least a foot since I've seen you."

"Well, I think five or six years ago was the one where you guys came all the way down here. The last one was last year; but that was after…. um… so you guys didn't come. Sorry," Gerry apologized for bringing up the separation.

"Don't worry son, it's not a big deal anymore," Mr. Dawson soothed over the incident.

"So, what're we haulin' around today?" Gerry asked.

"I'm borrowing the neighbor's truck to get beds, table and chairs, and some small tables or whatever for the living room. The people at Marv's said they'd drop the refrigerator off and hook it up in an hour, so you and I will be getting the bed frames, table, and chairs; then going back out to get mattresses. After we're done with the mattresses, the china cabinet will go in the kitchen and we'll get your desk and bookshelves in your room, Rose," Mr. Dawson responded.

Rose clapped her hands once and grinned, excited at the prospect of having her furniture in her room as the familiar furniture would help ease the moving transition and aid in making the space her own.

"Sounds like a plan to me Uncle James."

"See you in a bit Rose."

Gerry waved at his cousin and Rose waved back to both as they got in the neighbor's truck and drove away. Rose continued to unpack and sort through her father's boxes and kitchen supplies until her father and cousin returned about an hour later, and a Marv's Appliance truck pulled up just after they had. The refrigerator was hooked up in no time and Mr. Dawson and Gerry got the table and chairs in the dining room, the bed frames and bedside tables in their respective bedrooms and the coffee table and an end table in the living room.

"Now for the mattresses. Rose, would you like to accompany us?" Mr. Dawson asked rather nonchalantly.

Rose hid a giggle. The Dawsons planned to take Gerry out to supper as a late birthday present. "I'd love to."

After they had purchased and loaded up the mattresses, Mr. Dawson asked, "Say Gerry, you had a birthday just last week didn't you? How old are you now?"

"Yes sir, last Friday. Turned eighteen. Mama got me the Camaro for it, 'cause my grades where good and this is my senior year. Hey Rose, you got a birthday comin' up too, don't you? Seems like yours wasn't long after mine."

Rose was surprised that Gerry remembered her birthday. "Yeah, mid-next month. I'll be sixteen."

"Listen Gerry, it's a week late but is there a good restaurant in town we could take you to and celebrate?" Mr. Dawson invited.

"Aw, no, Uncle James, you don't have to do that," Gerry replied.

"True, but you didn't have to help us move in either. I already talked to your mother and she said it was fine. How about it?"

"Well, if you insist, Uncle James. Hal's has got pretty good food. I really appreciate it, Uncle James."

Mr. Dawson coughed. "Well, actually; Rose will have to take most of the credit. She's the one who remembered that it was your birthday. I never was very good at remembering dates and stuff."

Gerry grinned at Rose who grinned back.

---

On Sunday, supper at the Bertier's went well enough. James and Jean hadn't been very talkative with each other after Julie divorced him, but they got along for the evening and were not rude to each other. Becky, Gerry's younger sister by five years, hardly remembered what had gone on between her Uncle and her mom, so she had no trouble bonding with the Dawsons. In fact, she was rather excited to talk about just about anything besides football with Rose, citing that Gerry was addicted to it and talked of nothing else.

"He's still into that sport huh?" Rose had asked. She vaguely remembered Gerry playing it with their cousins and uncles once or twice at family reunions. Becky had nodded vigorously.

After the events of the evening had gone well enough, Rose hoped that school the next Wednesday would go smoothly as well.

------

Author's notes:

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jeminson is a real book written by Lois Lenski. It's a good book, read it sometime. :-)

Marv's was created for the fic.

Hal's is the restaurant in the beginning of the film.

Booyah, I finally got my initials in a fic! ((Is a dork))

Rad


	2. The First Day

Shy

Chapter 2: The First Day

The bus pulled to a stop in front of the new T.C. Williams High School shortly before 8:00 am on Wednesday, September 1st and just after Mr. Dawson had dropped Rose off and left for work. Clogging up the front grass and across the road were picketing parents, many hollering "We don't want you!" and waving signs against bussing.

Rose mentally shook her head. What was wrong with people? Sure, it was something they weren't used to, but blacks where no different than whites. Both were the children of God, why did they have to have different schools?

Rose rather easily picked out her cousin, a few inches taller than most in the crowd, and made her way over to him. She watched as a black boy came up to him and a white girl leave. She reached them just in time to hear the black boy say, "Camp over now, huh? Back to the real world, Bertier. This is what they're integratin' us for? We'd have been better off stayin' where we were."

Gerry shook his head, and then noticed Rose. "Hey Rose, you doin' ok?"

"Yeah. I don't like this picketing stuff. Not much I can do about it though." Rose shrugged, then nodded and smiled at the black boy. "Where's the administration office?" she asked, turning to Gerry. "I have to pick up a schedule and hope I don't get lost before classes start soon."

"Through the double doors and on the right. There's a big ol' sign, you can't miss it. Julius, this is my cousin Rose, she's from Georgia. Rose, Julius. I roomed with him at camp."

"Nice to meet you Julius," Rose stuck her hand out to the black boy, who took it.

"Looks like there is some redeemin' qualities in the human race," Julius tried to make a joke of the situation.

"Sadly, the world will never make up its mind about what is 'right,'" Rose answered. "I should go though, so I'm not late. See you boys later." Julius and Gerry both said farewell and Rose went to the office and got her schedule and locker information, as well as the general direction of her first class.

She made it to her literature class with five minutes to spare and sat in the back. Rose had no trouble telling who was an athlete, and probably a football player, as a good half the boys in her class had on red and white jackets. Mr. Hoon asked the class to quiet down and stand up while the National Anthem was played, then to sit silently and listen to the announcements. Some basic rules and notices were given, and then the principle encouraged everyone to pay attention in class and have a good first day. Mr. Hoon started the class off with the reading of the Creation Story, and then handed out a syllabus of rules and books that were to be read in class, along with the main text book they would be working from.

The same things happened throughout the rest of the day in all of Rose's classes: introduction to the course, syllabus of rules and materials, hand out the books. Rose had five classes before lunch: Advanced Literature I, Spanish II, Algebra, History III, and Religion III.

Rose made her way through the cafeteria lunch line, staring at the food available. She had heard that some schools had good days and bad, and that some schools never had any good days. The first day of school seemed to be a "good" day, as Rose could easily make out hamburgers, slices of cheese and condiments or small slices of pizza and salads. She scanned the cafeteria, looking for Gerry or Julius, or at least an empty table where she could read while she ate. The only table she saw that was in any way empty was in the back corner and had one occupant: a long, curly, brown-haired girl wearing a bright purple tee-shirt. Rose thought the girl looked familiar from her history class, so she made her way to the table; keeping an eye out for her cousin and his friend on the way but not finding them.

"Hi," Rose said, setting her tray down. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

The girl hardly glanced up from her book and shrugged.

Rose sat down, and wondered which would be more rude: interrupt the girl's reading again to introduce herself or let her read and not introduce herself. Rose chose the former as better social skills, which she knew she needed to work on. "I'm Rose Dawson; I think we have fourth period history together." Rose stuck her hand across the table.

The other girl looked up, appearing mildly shocked. She reached her hand out and shook Rose's. "Alison Brown." She returned to her book.

"Do you mind if I ask what you're reading, Alison?" Rose asked after a few seconds' pause.

"The History and Works of Michelangelo," came her reply.

"Personal reading or did you have homework assigned in an art class?"

"Personal."

"Wow. Do you like art?"

"Yeah."

Right through the entire conversation, Alison seemed to be only half-talking to Rose, her nose still in her book; so Rose figured she'd let the girl read. _'That's what my own intention had been as well, anyway.'_

About ten minutes of lunch break left and Rose was finished, so she decided to take a walk outside. "It was nice to meet you Alison. See you later?"

Alison raised an eyebrow, but nodded slightly, not even taking her nose from her book. "Bye."

Rose walked outside thinking, _'Gee, and Dad thinks I'm antisocial?'_ She chuckled to herself. She had never been in the "popular" group, but she'd never been as distant as Alison had seemed. Rose shrugged it off. Whatever worked for her. Rose made her way to the backyard of the school, which from the look of it was more for the elementary school across the lawn than for the high school students chatting and throwing a football around. A few see-saws, balancing beams, swings, slides, and a merry-go-round were located on the half of the yard closest to the elementary building.

Rose shaded her eyes with her hand, wondering if Gerry and Julius were part of the football throwing. Pretty sure she'd spotted her cousin and his friend among the whites and blacks throwing the ball around, she figured she'd go over and say 'hi.'

"Hey Rose! Rose, catch!" Gerry yelled as he threw the football to her.

Rose flashed back to seventh grade softball when some girl had hit it nearly at her head – she stepped back and tried to catch the football like a softball: in front of her face and with both hands. Rose nearly succeeded in at least stopping the thing, but it yanked itself through her hands, redirected a bit, and dropped behind her. Rose had jerked her head from its path, but recovered easily and picked it up as Julius hollered to throw it back. Rose laughed right out loud at that and started walking to the nearest boy who was playing with them. She made a mental note to check in at the office and ask about the softball team.

The handful of white and black boys gathered in front of her as Gerry asked, "Why didn't you just throw it back?"

"Because I can't throw a football. I think this is the closest I've ever been to a football." Rose held the ball out and a dark blonde-haired boy almost the same height as Gerry, with a slight frown on his face, took it from her. Rose got the slight notion he was checking her out.

"Hey girl, it was still a pretty nice catch," one of the black boys said.

"Yo Petey, you blind?" Julius asked. "She didn't catch it!"

Julius' statement earned laughter even from Rose.

"Was a pretty nice try though," a tall, stocky black boy next to Rose said, elbowing her lightly in the arm. Rose took a small step away from him at the slight, irregular-for-her contact. Nobody seemed to think it rude, maybe as if she was playing along with the boy. Gerry introduced her to his friends.

"Guys, this is my cousin Rose; moved in from Georgia last week. Rose this is Ray, Randy, Rusty, Blue, John, and Petey. You already met Julius."

Petey, the one who has told her it as a 'nice catch' stepped out of the group of boys and extended his hand. Rose expected a handshake and reached out her own hand.

"Nice to meet you, sugar," Petey pulled her hand towards him to place a kiss on the back of her hand.

Rose, more embarrassed than shocked; though both, gently pulled her hand away. The dirty-blonde, Ray, gave a diminutive smile. An uncomfortable moment of silence passed. "Um… I have to go. Don't want to be late on my first day here. It was nice to meet you all… bye." Rose turned quickly on her heel and strode away as fast as she could, trying to look like she _wasn't_ trying to hurry away.

She made it to her locker as the five minute warning bell rang, grabbed her book bag and two notebooks and took off to her sixth period writing class. She slid into a seat several seconds before the bell rang. A few straggler students followed. Throughout her entire writing class, Rose could only think of how rude she had been to Petey and Blue, but also how she justified her actions by not being used to anything like that at all. Rose had never been friends with any of the boys in her freshman and sophomore years at Riverside High in Georgia and had never had anything like that happen before. Blue's actions were sort of all right, but Petey's actions totally intruded on Rose's comfort zone.

By the time Rose was half way done with seventh period chemistry, she had resolved to speak to and apologize to both boys. When the right moment presented itself and the boys weren't surrounded by other people, when she wouldn't embarrass herself any more than she already had.

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Author's Notes:

I made up The History and Works of Michelangelo… but if it's a real book then I guess it's a real book. Heh.

'71 Original Titans website has Rusty, John, and Randy listed as other players. I don't know if they're black or white, but for _Shy_ Rusty and Randy are white and John is black (#36 is black in the movie, and the website says that John is #36, ((Shrugs)) so there's that), because I figured Gerry would be hanging out with his white and black friends at lunch and I needed a few more white boys.

I made the first day of school September 1st instead of 4th because in 1971 September 1st was actually a Saturday.

Reviews are always welcomed… hint, hint, hint. :-)

Rad


	3. The Beginnings

Shy

Chapter 3: The Beginnings

**Faile Goldeneyes** – ((Smiles innocently)) Thank you though, truly. I'm glad you enjoy Rose's interactions with the guys.

**LadyofthePlains** – I'm glad I have your interest.

**Mentathiel – **I'm glad you like the start.

**vballchick979** – I'm glad you like it! Does your pen name pertain to an interest in volleyball? I enjoy the sport immensely!

Alrighty reviewers, in a few days I will be going back to school early to work and I have a job interview tomorrow morning, so my time will be cut short. Very short, if I get a fourth job and after school starts. ((Sighs)) Tis the life of the era. So far I have up to chapter eleven written, so I shall at least post those on the schedule of once a week, or as close to it as I can get. I have forty-eight chapters planned so far, as well as Alison's story and the story of the Titans they both end up with. So. I will give you something for your reading pleasure when I can.

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The first Friday of the school year was absolutely gorgeous, and Rose spent the ten minute break between second period Spanish and third period algebra on a bench in the backyard reading her book. After a few pages, a glance at her watch told her it was time to get to class. She passed small gaggles of groups from the various social statuses in the school, ranging from geek to jock.

"Hey Rose," she heard her name in passing. Looking up, she saw Randy – or Rusty – and waved.

A moment or two later, Rusty – or Randy – waved at her from the stairwell. Rose waved back. _'Wow, is this what it feels like to be popular, or at least to be known by those that the whole school knows?'_ She gave a small smile; it was kind of cool to be known by the athletes, and to have them say 'hi' in the halls.

---

Rose spent Thursday and Friday paying attention in her classes and avoiding Gerry, as well as the black boys she had met in the yard on Wednesday. The latter was pretty easy, as Rose either didn't have class with most of them or sat far enough away from them to leave without bumping in to them. She was more worried about a confrontation with Gerry and what his perspective had been on the whole issue.

Rose made it until Monday when someone else 'cornered' her, though it wasn't any of the guys from last Wednesday.

It was lunch time and Rose and Alison were at what had become 'their' customary table when a couple of girls came up to them.

"How did you know all that information in religion today?"

Rose looked up and blinked. Alison still had her nose stuck in her art book. "I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" She tilted her own book down.

"Yeah," a short girl with vibrantly red hair replied. She repeated the question; referencing the class they all had just come from, in which Rose's hand had risen several times.

Rose shrugged. "Bible times have always been a small interest of mine, and I guess I just studied it enough for tests that it stuck with me."

The trio of girls set their trays down on Rose's end of the table. Rose glanced at Alison, who had kept to her book over the last few days and hadn't acknowledged Rose more than a nod (and hardly at all when Rose discovered they had Spanish II together), to make sure it wasn't too upsetting for her. The other girl seemed not to notice the company.

"I'm Linda," the redhead introduced herself, "And this is Gina and Marilyn." Gina, a medium-height long-haired blonde, and Marilyn, a tad taller than Linda with dark brown hair just barely to her shoulders, both said hi. Rose noted the varsity cheerleading jackets worn by both Linda and Marilyn.

"Do you want to join us tomorrow after school and study for the quiz Myers is giving us this Friday?" Linda asked.

Slightly stunned for a moment, Rose replied in the affirmative.

Linda scribbled down her address and gave it to Rose. The other girls began chatting while they ate and Rose realized they weren't going to leave so she placed her bookmark in Strawberry Girl. She engaged in their conversation a little, but mostly listened.

---

Rose rode her bike to school the next morning in anticipation of going to Linda's afterward, as the other girl didn't live very far away. Her father had been rather proud of her to be making new friends already. Rose had to admit he was right.

Linda's house was bigger than the Dawsons', but Rose figured that was because Linda's family was bigger. And she was proved right when a young boy chased a slightly older girl up the stairs as Linda opened the door for Rose.

"Joshua! Don't chase Amelia like that! And don't run up the stairs or run in the house!"

"Younger siblings?" Rose asked.

Linda rolled her eyes. "It's only too obvious. Dad's at the office and mom had to go shopping, so guess who gets to watch them?"

Rose chuckled. That was one of the pros of being an only child. Of course, there was also the con of not having a sibling to talk to… like a sister.

Marilyn and Gina, along with a slim girl with long, light brown hair swept up in a ponytail, were already seated on the floor in the living room, papers strewn about them and a bowl of popcorn in the middle. Linda introduced the other girl as Beth.

Rose sat down and spread her own notes before her, pulling out her already half-finished study guide.

"Now, Myers wants us to study what he taught us about the Flood times and the Neph-il-a… Neph-a-la…" Linda stumbled.

"_Nephilim_," Rose corrected her.

"Yeah. Them."

"What are they again?" Gina asked.

"The Nephilim are thought to be the people created by the fallen ones and humans crossbreeding. I think the Bible says something like 'and the sons of God thought the daughters of man were attractive.'" Rose paraphrased. "I think there's speculation by ancient somebody or another that the angels became 'fallen ones' because of their sin."

Marilyn was astonished. "How d'ya know all that?"

Rose shrugged. "I've always had a fetish for mythical stories, and the Nephilim are like something from Greek or Roman legend."

Marilyn and Beth had 'wow, that is so cool!' looks on their faces. Linda and Gina had impressed looks too.

About an hour and half and another round of popcorn later, the girls had gone over every inch of their notes ("Rose, I can't believe you thought to take that down!") and had the study guide fully completed. The other girls were very close to having most of the content memorized, thanks to Rose's suggestion of quizzing each other repeatedly.

Linda went to get something else for them to munch on. Marilyn said, "Ok, I think it's time for a break! Hey Gina, did you see the cutie that sat in the back row of biology this morning?"

"The one with the blue striped shirt?"

"Yeah, him!"

"Yeah, and he was so cute and dreamy!"

Rose barely refrained from rolling her eyes. A large part of the reason she had few friends at Riverside High was because she hated the way that girls drooled and cooed over boys. Unless you planned on going up to him and telling him you liked him, what was the point? Of course, Rose had never really cared about boys, so maybe it didn't work like that.

Gina and Marilyn burst into giggles.

"I'll tell you who's good looking – the boy in my home ecc class, that's who. He's tall and he's got sort of long-ish blond hair and dreamy eyes and he's strong shouldered… probably an athlete," Linda gossiped, coming back into the living room with a tray full of vegetables and a bowl of chips.

The rest of the girls "ooed."

Beth glanced at Rose. "Who do you think's cute Rose?"

"Huh? Me? I don't really know… I haven't looked." Ok, it was sort of a lie as she hadn't _cared_ to look, but they didn't need to know that.

"Oh, there's lots of lookers in Hamm – I mean, T.C. Loads of 'em are athletes. You're just _bound_ to find one you like!" Gina fussed girlishly.

Rose shrugged.

"Hey," Linda cut in on their schoolgirl chattering. "Are we still on for _Romance in the Willows_ this Saturday?"

Gina, Marilyn, and Beth chorused 'yes.'

"D'ya want to come Rose?"

"If my dad says yes I'd enjoy going with you," Rose replied.

"Great!" Linda chirped. "Meet us at the theater at two o'clock. "All right girls, let's go over this religion stuff one more time, then I think we've hit it enough."

Rose smiled to herself. Linda was definitely the leader of her pack of friends. Usually, at least in Rose's experience, girls in such a position were snooty and rude, but Linda was friendly, albeit a little too cheery. _'Rather too cheery than rude,'_ Rose thought.

---

"So? How did it go?" Mr. Dawson asked as Rose came home from the study session.

"Very well, actually. They asked me to go to the movies with them this Saturday."

"See? That wasn't so bad. Of course you have my permission!" Mr. Dawson grinned widely at his daughter.

"Thanks. Now," she stuck her religion study guide under his nose. "Help me study some more for the test tomorrow?"

"Sure thing honey."

Rose grinned.

---

Rose's actions the first day out in the yard caught up with her Wednesday in the form of Gerry trapping her between him and her locker right after the final period.

"Rose Dawson, now I know you got a reason for last week. I thought your mom left because she and Uncle James had different thoughts on the integration issue? And that you stayed with him because you agreed with him? You were fine with Julius that morning. You don't got no reason to treat my friends like that." He kept his voice low so only Rose could hear, but he was definitely **not** happy.

Rose inwardly winced slightly at his accusation and more so at the reference to family problems. Partially fishing for a pretext to not have this conversation right now, she retorted with "Don't you have practice to get to?"

Gerry gave her a look that clearly said 'That's an excuse.'

Rose shoved one last book in her bag, slammed her locker, and said "I'll just walk with you then, shan't I?"

Gerry must have sensed that he didn't need to bring up past family history and amended his earlier outbreak.

"It's alright; I'm the one that should be apologizing for last week. I am sorry. It had nothing to do with them being black. More like it had something to do with them being boys and me having personal space issues," Rose tried to explain as they hurried to the boys' locker room.

Gerry eyeballed her.

"I'm just different like that. I plan on apologizing to them. Um… first chance I get. I haven't yet."

Her cousin grinned at her. "I figured somethin' was up. Thank you for your account of it."

"You're welcome. Have fun at practice…. Or not?" Rose added at Gerry's laugh.

"No, not fun per se. More like hard work, but good."

Rose, recalling butterfly drills for volleyball, understood what he meant. "Practice hard, then. And don't get hurt. You've got a game this Friday, right?"

"Yep, home game at six-thirty. You comin' right?"

"Yes, if only to cheer on my favorite football-addicted cousin. Because heaven knows I am very unfamiliar with football." Both laughed, remembering how she'd try to catch the football last week.

"Great, see you there then."

"Bye."

---

"Hey Alison? Alison?" Rose said the other girl's name a little more forcefully the second time after sitting down. It was Thursday afternoon and Alison had probably finished the Michelangelo book and had been drawing in a sketch pad for the past two days. The other girl "hmmed" to show Rose had her attention. At her hardly existent attempt at conversation, Rose wasn't sure she wanted to invite her to the movie, nor if the other girls would mind; but then again, Linda hadn't asked them before inviting Rose. Still, it was the polite thing to do. "Some girls and I are going to go see a movie this Saturday afternoon. Do you want to come?"

Alison looked at her like a deer caught in the headlights on a highway. "N-no, thank you. I… I have chores I have to take care of then," she returned to her sketch pad quickly.

'_Well, I tried,'_ Rose thought. _'Although that part about having to do chores sounded a bit forced. Oh well, not like that wasn't me once.'_ Rose grinned and greeted Linda, Gina, Beth, and Marilyn as they sat down. Alison hadn't seemed too upset when the other girls had started to sit at the table; though Rose half-wondered if she knew they had.

"So the guy's name in my bio class is…"

Rose listened to them jabber on about boys and the clothing shops they wanted to hit while out to the movie this coming weekend. Rose had little to add in both aspects, so she just listened.

---

Hastening her way to her writing class after lunch on Thursday, Rose heard someone call her name. She turned, backpedaling a few steps then stopped, and saw, to her astonishment, one of the football players that Gerry had introduced her to at lunch making his way down the hall. He waved when Rose located the source of the call.

"You're walking awfully fast; you actually enjoy your classes?"

"Hi… Ray right?" He nodded. "Well, some of them, yes, I enjoy. I'm still trying to remember where all of them are and I don't want to be late."

"Ah. Listen, you comin' to our game tomorrow?"

Rose allowed herself to laugh. "Let's see, my cousin is the football-addicted captain and good friend of mine, so I'd say yes, I am going to the game."

"Good, great. See you there." He paused in front of his next class.

"Yep," Rose nodded, continuing on her own way.

"Bye," he waved.

Rose waved back. _'Wow, three 'hello, you are known' acknowledgments in one day, and it's only the seventh day of school. I guess being on the very fringes of popularity is kind of neat.'_

------

Author's notes:

Strawberry Girl is a real book, also written by Lois Lenski. I was rather shocked to find out that both Indian Captive and Strawberry Girl were written by the same author, as I read Strawberry Girl in third grade and Indian Captive in fifth (and once or twice after that). Now hear I am, a sophomore in college, and I find out they're written by the same author. Funny how things like that happen.

I made up _Romance in the Willows_.

Rad


	4. The First Game

Shy

Chapter 4: The First Game

Rose gave a half grin when she stepped into school on the morning of the second Friday of the school year. T.C. Williams High was definitely a sports-centered school, and their main sport was obviously football. Players and cheerleaders had talked of it nonstop on the bus as it pulled in and there were several flyers scattered around in the hallway. A few posters had even made their way to the windows. The entire hullabaloo reminded her of Riverside, whose sport had been basketball; though Rose had only been to one game.

'_At least people aren't as uptight about the whole integration issue anymore,'_ she thought. The crowd of angry picketers had thinned a bit over the last two or three days, as if they were beginning to realize that their efforts weren't getting anywhere.

All the students whooped at the end of morning announcements when the principal said "And be sure to be there tonight to support the Titans in their first football game of the season, against the Hayfield Hawks!"

Classes were cut to about thirty-five minutes that day to allow a pep assembly and early let-out time and hardly anyone wanted to concentrate on school work. The teachers gave a valiant effort though. Rose spotted Alison with her sketchpad out during Spanish II and Religion classes. The students were a little rowdier than normal in the cafeteria lunch line, and many were outdoors cheering.

Rose thought they didn't need the pep really, as they were already peppy enough without it. Although, what student didn't like shortened classes and getting out of school early?

Rose was a little caught up in all the excitement as she sat down at her and Alison's table. She voiced her greeting to Alison a little louder than normal, partially because of the crowd and partially from the enthusiasm in the cafeteria, then asked if Alison was going to the game. Alison gave a reply, but Rose asked her to repeat it as it had been lost in the noise. Alison sort of rolled her eyes and both girls leaned closer so as to be heard better.

"My sister's a varsity cheerleader, so I'll probably be going to all of them."

"Ah! I'll see you there then!"

Alison shrugged and went back to her sketchpad. Rose wondered how she could concentrate with the racket all around them, but shrugged it off. Eating faster than normal and abandoning her reading material to her locker, she went out side to work off her own animation. Several students, many of them football players, were hollering and whooping at the top of their lungs. Rose didn't bother to hide her wide smile.

She found the pep assembly absolutely pointless, but other people seemed to enjoy watching the cheerleaders perform and the football players show off. Rose easily picked out Gerry and a few of his friends in their jerseys and shouted along with the rest of the crowd when her cousin's name, number, and position were called out.

After the assembly many students went home, as the junior varsity game was first and the varsity game wasn't until six-thirty. Rose decided to stay for the junior varsity game, though she read A Wrinkle in Time throughout most of it, glancing up occasionally when the small T.C. crowd of mostly parents cheered loudly. Many of the varsity players, including Gerry, were seated along the first row, cheering on the younger players and picking out who was really good and how the jv players would help out the varsity roster next year.

After an extra loud cheer, followed by the P.A. system announcing that the Titans had won fifteen-to-seven Rose cheered with the rest of the T.C. crowd. She noticed that the varsity boys were no longer in the stands and realized they had probably left earlier to prepare for their own game. Several moments later they took to the field and began warming up.

Even though Rose had no idea what was going on throughout the entire game, she was able to generalize enough which end the Titans wanted to get the ball too. Mostly, she just cheered and clapped when the T.C. fans did. She had a hard time trying to keep track of her cousin, his number forty-two not always visible after someone on the field yelled "Hut!" and most of the players ran into each other.

Rose did find it rather amusing to watch a young, curly blonde-haired girl rant the entire way through the game. "Ooh! We're moving like molasses out there, for crying out loud! I mean, come on! Uh! Ooh! You guys can do better than that – uh!"

One specific Titan seemed to have trouble staying with his opponent, who was too fast for him to catch and numerous times (or so it seemed to Rose) the Hawk got the ball and scored because the Titan was a mite too slow.

A few moments later and a white boy's father began yelling at one of the coaches because his son had been taken out; the same Titan that was having trouble keeping up with the Hawk twenty-three.

A black player took the white's place, and though he seemed to Rose to not know what he was doing, he did well, tackling the Hawk twelve that got the ball. The same black boy made a few more tackles that seemed to play a key role in the game.

In the end, the Titans were victorious with a twenty-six-to-seven score. Rose had no idea if this was a "really good" score or "average" score, but she applauded loudly with the rest of the fans.

------

Ok, short chapter, sorry. I didn't really have much to go on… mostly I just wanted to cover the game.

Rad


	5. The Explanation

Shy

Chapter 5: The Explanation

The crowd dispersed after the Titans and Hawks had congratulated each other. Rose made her way to the doors of the locker room to wait for Gerry. She spotted Alison half way across the parking lot, walking with her cheerleader sister to the older's car. Rose shouted and waved, Alison raised her hand in response. _'Better than nothing and it's a start,'_ she thought.

A good fifteen minutes went by and Rose figured they boys were taking showers. A moment or two later and a boy with nearly shoulder-length blonde hair and who was slightly taller than Rose walked out. Rose debated with herself for a moment; then walked up to the boy. "Excuse me." He turned to her. "Hi. Would you happen to know if Gerry Bertier is almost done?" Then Rose added, "Or about Petey or Blue?"

"Gerry's almost done and Blue and Petey are horsin' around. I could go tell them you're waiting for them," he answered, pointing at the locker room.

Rose argued with herself again, but replied, "If it's not too much trouble, I'd greatly appreciate it." She did have to get home soon, after all.

"Nope, no problem. I'll be right back."

"Thank you!" Rose called after him. She pondered the boy a minute; then decided that his tan pants, mildly exotic-looking shirt, and three beaded chocker-necklaces marked him from out of town. His slight accent affirmed it. Gerry walked out, interrupting Rose's thoughts.

"Hey cousin! You made it!" Gerry greeted, swinging his arm around her shoulders momentarily.

"Of course I did silly. I may not have understood any of it, but I came to support you."

"Well, I sure do appreciate it. Man, it feels good to be back in the football season. Sunshine said you wanted to talk to me?"

Players began spilling out from the locker room. Gerry and Rose moved off to the side.

"Well, sort of. I have to be getting home but I wanted to congratulate you."

"Aw, come on cousin! Come celebrate with us! You'll love it!"

"As much as I would probably enjoy joining you, I have math homework that I have to do."

"That's what the weekend's for. Come party with us and do it another day."

"Unlike some people, I enjoy getting my homework done right away so I don't have it hanging over me."

"'Some people' huh? So you think I don't have my homework done already?"

"You don't." Rose poked him in the shoulder.

"You're right; I'd be lying if I said I didn't."

"Besides," Rose retorted, "I need help with it and Dad's going to be busy tomorrow."

"Y'know, Rev's quite the brainiac; you should join our study sessions after practice sometime next week. I can give you ride."

"Sounds like a great idea, I probably will. Thank you for the invitation."

"Any time cous."

"Excuse me Bertier, but I believe Sunshine informed us that this pretty young lady wants to speak with us," Petey said, elbowing in on their conversation, Blue standing beside him.

Rose immediately went very introverted and Gerry shot Petey a 'behave' look. "Goodnight Rose."

"Goodnight," she responded quietly, staring at Petey and Blue. Rose swallowed. Most of the players had left by now, giving her no excuse to not speak with the black boys. "Um… I owe you two an apology for my actions last week. I – I guess you could say I'm sort of anti-social. I mean… I've never had a lot of friends or very many close ones, and… nor have I ever had any friends that were boys. So, um, I'm sorry if I seemed rude to the both of you last week. I'm not used to any kind of physical contact. Especially like last week," Rose pushed out.

"Well then, let's try again, clean slate," the bigger boy said, sticking out his hand and Rose accepted it. "Name's Darryl Stanton, friends call me Blue. This here's Thomas Jones, but we all know he ain't got no brains, so we call him Petey."

"Heeey Blue, don't go fillin' the girl's head with no nonsense! She don't need her pretty head filled with no nonsense!" he swung his arm loosely around Rose's shoulders. Rose stiffened for a moment at the contact, but forced her self to relax. She got the notion that it was better to play along with Petey and get used to it right away, or else the boy would probably continue heavily the next time they met. They started walking toward a group of players about halfway through the parking lot, on their way into town.

"It's nice to properly meet you both," she responded.

"Hey girl, what's your middle name?" Petey asked with a glimmer in his eyes.

Rose raised an eyebrow questioningly, but answered, "My middle name is Ann."

"So, you comin' to hang with us tonight? Celebrate?" Blue asked.

Rose shook her head. "Gerry already asked me, and I can't. I have homework and other stuff to do at home before the weekend comes."

"Aw girl, ditch that and come with us!" Blue coaxed.

"Don't badger her too much Blue, we don't want the great and awful wrath of Ra to come down on us," Petey chuckled.

"Ra? You do know Ra is the Egyptian sun _god,_ not _goddess,_ right?"

"Oh, well… then we don't want the wrath of Ra's great, great, great… great, great granddaughter by the same name on us, now do we? But you are comin' with us, right Ra?"

Rose chuckled at the new nickname and was mildly curious where the black boy had gotten such information. "Sorry Petey, but I actually do have to go." She ducked out from beneath his arm and started to head the other way. "It was good to finally meet you two. Enjoy your partying."

"Hey, hey. At least promise to join us for a study session at the Rev's house sometime next week," Petey called after her.

Rose chuckled. "Gerry already asked that too, and I said yes. See you Monday," she waved goodbye as she disappeared into the evening.

---

"Rose!!" Linda nearly shrieked Monday at lunch. "I hear you talked to a Titan after the game last week! What did you say to him? How did it go? Do you like him?"

Rose stared at the redhead ludicrously for a moment. "Which Titan are you referring to?"

"Gerry of course!"

"Definitely _not_ the other two," Marilyn scoffed.

Rose laughed. "Yes, I talked to Gerry. I congratulated _my cousin_ on his team's win."

"He's your _cousin_?"

"Yes, he is. And… why would you not be referring to the other two?" Rose asked, knowing she would be opening up a can of worms.

"Because they're… they're _black_!" Linda said in a hushed voice.

Rose shrugged. "Your point is…?"

Marilyn and Gina gasped, Linda looked incredulous and Beth tried to look neutral. Actually, Beth looked like she wanted to run or hide; or at least not be at the table having this discussion.

"It's just… not _right_, Rose."

"And why is it not right? Because they're black?" Rose answered her own question.

Linda, Gina, and Marilyn looked stunned. Beth looked like she secretly supported Rose. "Linda, they're normal human beings, just like you and me."

"But –"

"Linda, do you have any pets? Does your family have a cat, or a dog?"

Linda made a face that clearly said 'what does _that_ have to do with it?' "I have a cat and so does my sister."

"Are they the exact same breed?" Beth immediately saw where Rose was taking this conversation.

"No. Snowball's white and Patches is a calico."

"But you still have both of them. You don't treat them any differently, I'll assume, because one is white and the other isn't."

"I… we… No." Linda gave up the argument, realizing that she was beat.

"Do you really _like_ those black boys?" Marilyn asked disbelievingly.

Rose fumbled for the right answer. "I don't like-like them… in fact, I hardly know them at all, but I'm sure they'll be good friends… so… but maybe I might." Rose made up the last part out of spite for Linda's beliefs. It was rather satisfying to hear the three girls gasp.

Linda, Marilyn, and Gina picked up their trays and walked a few steps away before realizing that Beth wasn't with them. "Beth, are you coming?" Linda asked.

Beth looked down at her tray, unsure of what to do, then placed her hands on her tray. Rose raised her eyebrow at the girl, telling her to stand up for herself. "I… I think I'm going to stay here and eat with Rose," she said softly.

"Fine, stay here with the black-lover," Linda taunted.

The other three girls haughtily strutted away. Rose patted Beth on the arm. "You did the right thing."

"I know," she responded.

"Beth, meet Alison Brown. Alison, this is Beth." Rose had noticed the other girl covertly watching the entire exchange. Beth stuck out her hand and Alison took it. A thought struck Rose and she voiced it. "Alison, are you comfortable with Beth and I thinking blacks and whites are the same and shouldn't be treated differently?" _'Might as well get it out of the way.'_ "We can find a different table if you're not comfortable with us."

Alison shook her head. "The only difference is color, we're all children of God and blacks are no different and shouldn't be treated badly because of their skin color."

Rose was rather impressed; this was the most that Alison had ever spoken.

"And… and I think you did the right thing, telling those girls off like that. That took guts."

Rose blushed at the compliment. "Thanks."


	6. The Study Session

Shy

Chapter 6: The Study Session

Rose sat on the bleachers that day after school, doing her homework and waiting until the boys were done practicing so she could join them in their study session. Rose had to half wonder exactly _how_ much work they got done, but then figured Rev probably got them working, eventually. _'Plus, they have to have good enough grades to stay on the team, so they have to study anyway,'_ she rationalized.

She glared, frustrated at her algebra homework. She was having trouble with polynomials, and was getting very irritated at the fact that she'd been working on a problem for the past ten minutes and still hadn't gotten the answer given in the back of the book. "Eh, forget it. We'll see how much of a brainiac Rev is when I ask for help with this crap." She moved on to the next equation and did manage to get that one done – the third try. She made it through the rest of the equations with a total of six that she couldn't figure out. She shoved the math into her bag for later and pulled out her creative writing assignment. "Yes, something I can relate to!"

"_A beautiful princess, a charming prince, and an evil dragon." Sounds like a tagline for a romance-fantasy-action movie, doesn't it? The assignment is to take this over-used tagline and turn it into something different. Students may use any inspiration, save plagiarism. Delve into your imagination, let your heart soar! Take chances, make mistakes! Use your wits and invent something new with an old idea. _

_Tales must be no shorter than six pages hand-written. If using a typewriter assignment should be no shorter than four pages. Please write neatly, using proper spelling and grammar. Have a parent or friend proof your work at least twice. Final draft is due two weeks after the assignment has been given. Assignment will be graded according to proper grammar, English, punctuation, originality, and required length. Bonus points may be awarded for extra pages and exceptional plot twists._

"I think I can work with this… now, let's see what kind of a spin I can give this fairy tale…" Rose started writing down plot ideas in her notebook as she leaned back against the not-so-comfortable bleachers.

"D'ya always talk to youself like that?"

"Gah!" Rose threw up her hands and sat up quickly, nearly losing her pencil and balance in the process. "Geesh Petey, don't scare a girl like that!"

Petey and Blue chuckled, both with Dixie cups in their hands and sweat on their faces. "Girl, you know I couldn't help it!"

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you don't want the wrath of Ra – or Coach Boone, rather – to come down on you, I suggest you boys get back to practice."

Petey and Blue gave a sort of "Ooooh, we be in trouble now" look and turned around. Coach Boone was blowing his whistle, signaling the end of the small water break.

"Eh, we get you at Rev's when we're done here," Blue ribbed back.

"Yeah, you both are just talk," Rose said to herself. Petey must have heard, because he turned around and targeted her. Rose stuck her tongue out at him. "Boys," she said, rolling her eyes.

---

"Woo-hoo! It's party time!" Petey whooped, stepping out of Rev's house's front door to greet the arriving Rose, Gerry, and Julius. A second car pulled up after Gerry and Randy, Rusty, John and a black boy Rose didn't know piled out. Blue, Rev, and a stocky, blonde-haired white boy followed Petey outside.

"Party? What about studying?" Rose asked, slinging her backpack over one shoulder.

"Study? I ain't said no nothing about studyin'! Gerry, you puttin' silly thoughts in this pretty head a' hers?" Petey gibed, lightly punching Gerry in the shoulder then mussing up Rose's hair.

"Hey, I'm not one of those girls that carries a comb everywhere with her, now look what you did!" Rose chided him, trying to comb the new tangles from her hair with her fingers. "I got algebra problems; I don't need hair problems too."

All of the boys laughed; then most of them made their way inside Rev's house. Gerry lagged behind with Petey and Blue, who were still teasing Rose.

"I'll see you inside," the unnamed black said, elbowing Blue.

"Yep Cody, Petey an' I got a goddess to torment," Blue winked at Rose.

"Oh sure, just because I'm the only one here with enough hair to do that with," Rose rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll figure out your math, cous. It can't be too hard," Gerry consoled.

"Then boy, you must've never been in Mr. Keeler's class, or never had algebra. These polynomials are hard, and I've got six problems that I can't solve!"

"Ooh, careful Bertier! You don' want the wrath of the great-great-great… great-great granddaughter of Ra comin' down on you now do ya?" Blue queried, nudging the white boy in the shoulder.

"Great granddaughter of… who?" Gerry asked, confused. "Rose, are they buggin' you? What're they talking about?"

Rose shook her head. "They aren't bothering me, not _really_, just teasing." She turned to the two boys, who were giving each other skin. "How did you know I was into mythology anyway?"

"Aw girl, we got religion with ya. An' day after the test some girl came past our table mutterin' somethin' about ancient times and today same girl declarin' a distaste for 'that silly myth-and-black-lover,' she was huffin' away like somebody had insulted her or somethin'. Both times she come from your table," Blue answered.

"What, you don' think we don' know everythin' about you?" chuckled Petey.

'_**Came **__from your table._' To Blue, Rose explained "Oh, you mean the short redhead, Linda? Yeah, she's not all happy and cheery about the integration, and she thought that I would feel the same way. I set her straight." To Petey, she announced a bit smugly, "A word of wisdom: you don't want to know what I think, because most of it is how silly and rather childish you are." She stuck her tongue at him.

"Well, 'scuse me," Petey gave a mock half-bow from the waist. He slung his arm around Blue. "C'mon Blue, we don't need to be hearin' this stuff from the almighty Ra. Let's go inside and just party without her." Both boys headed for the house.

"Aaaah! Sometimes he maims me," Rose stated overdramatically to Gerry. "Do you have anything I can throw at him?" she asked half-jokingly.

Gerry reached into the back of his car through the open window. "Football?" he asked, handing her the piece of sports equipment.

"Well, I was mostly joking…" Rose took the football and launched it sideways, but hit her target squarely between the shoulders anyway.

"Hey, what was that for?" Petey asked, halfway up the last step to the porch.

"For being smug," Rose replied off-handedly as she and Gerry made their way to the house behind the two black boys. Petey just shook his finger at her. Gerry picked up his football.

Once the four finally made it into the house Rose could hear soul music coming from the radio in what she presumed to be the kitchen. The front door opened right into stairs to the second floor, with the living room to the left and the dining room connected directly to that. Rev and the stocky white boy were bent over what was probably a math book, judging by the calculator next to them. Julius, Randy, and the unidentified black boy were on the couch along the same wall as the door, working on their own homework and Rusty and John were on the floor, various books and papers spread around them.

"Take a seat anywhere," Gerry directed Rose as he took the other couch and Petey and Blue sat down against the stairs. Rose, feeling vastly outnumbered, joined Gerry on the couch and pulled out her Spanish homework.

---

About an hour later Rose had her Spanish, history, and half of her religion homework done. She was part way through skimming her Bible's concordance, looking for references to Jesus as 'the Rock,' when a shadow fell over her. She glanced up to see the stocky white boy standing next to the couch.

"You need something Lastik?" Gerry asked.

"Well, sorta. Your cousin know anything about English and grammar and all that?" he asked, looking to Rose.

"I know some stuff, what have you got?" Rose replied.

Lastik handed her two sheets of notebook paper. "Book report, supposed to have someone proof it. And I know none a' these guys besides Rev is any good with this stuff. He's working on his advanced physics and I don't wanna bother him if I don't have to."

"I'd be happy to look it over." Rose took his report from him.

"Thanks."

"M-hm," Rose answered, digging in her backpack for a blue pen. She began reading Lastik's report, noting corrections of all sorts. By the time she reached the end of the report the second time she knew this boy was no grammar pro; but mentally shrugged it off. _'Not everyone loves the written word like you do, Rose Ann.'_ She handed the papers back.

"Wow. I guess I need to work on this stuff more, huh? At least I won't get marked down for none a' this. Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

"Listen, will you be comin' to these a lot? I think you might be kinda handy. Knowin' about the grammar and stuff."

Rose grinned. "Any time you need help, just ask. I'm happy to be of service."

The white boy smiled back and stuck out his hand. "Louie Lastik, pleasure to meet you."

Rose reached out her hand and received a firm shake. "Rose Dawson."

Louie returned to the kitchen table with Rev, and Rose proceeded to finish her religion homework.

---

About half an hour later Rose was done with all of her homework, save her aggravating math. She checked Rev's progress and he seemed to be talking to Louie about something other than homework, so she grabbed her math and went to ask for help.

He turned out to be quite the 'brainiac' as she'd heard a few times already. She still didn't really understand the polynomial stuff, but by the time Gerry took her home half an hour later, she had a better grasp on it than when she had started out. After finally having her math done, Gerry took her and Petey home, the three of them being the only ones left at Rev's besides Louie.

------

Author's notes:

Cody is based on the character from the locker room scene, the boy that Blue taps on the back and who later elbows Blue. He also later tells Alan "There's too much male bonding in here. I'm out, you dig?" The actor looks a lot like a boy at my college who's name is Cody. ((Shrugs))

Rad


	7. The Look

Shy

Chapter 7: The Look

"_You comin' to the Berg with us this Sunday, Ra?" Petey asked. _

_Rose blinked. "The Berg? Why?"_

"_Julius, Gerry, Blue, and some of the other guys are goin' to play basketball there this Sunday afternoon. You in?"_

"_I'm not a basketball player, no matter my height. I don't understand the game at all. I don't know how to play," Rose responded truthfully._

"_Aw girl, you don' have to play if you don' want to. You can come watch! Cheer on the big Blue man," Blue boasted._

"_C'mon Rose, it'll be fun. I'll come pick you up around 3:30," Gerry coaxed._

"_Yeah, not every day someone comes to watch and cheer," Julius mentioned._

"_Yeah, we never get a pretty girl to come an' watch us!" Petey crowed._

_Rose had blushed at the compliment. "Alright, alright. I've been convinced." She threw up her hands in mock defeat. The boys all cheered._

Rose smiled at the memory and glanced at the kitchen phone. It was 4:45 Sunday afternoon, and Gerry was late. _'I don't think that "around 3:30" means an hour later… I wonder what happened?' _Just after finishing her thought the phone rang. Rose reached for it. "Hello, Dawson's residence, Rose speaking."

"Hey cous, its Gerry. I know I'm late, and I'm sorry. Mom won't let me go. She wants me to go to church with her."

Rose heard the annoyance in her cousin's voice. "She doesn't want you hanging out with Julius and the rest of them, is that really it?"

"Yeah," he answered with a sigh. "Not like it's going to change the entire situation. She'll get used to it eventually. She has to; it's not going to go away. Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Ok, see you." Rose hung up the phone and was reminded of her own mother.

------

Last week Friday's game had been washed out by the rain, so it was moved to the next Monday. Rose sat in the bleachers, watching the Titans play without heart. She knew little of the game, but she knew enough about sports and cooperation to know that the boys weren't meshing as well as they had their first game. The other team, the Herndon Hornets, played with even less heart than the Titans did. "Come on you guys! Pick it up!" Rose yelled. _'Pull it together, you can do it!'_ She saw Julius confront Gerry, and Gerry's stiff reaction. _'Probably has his mother's action on his mind.'_ The Titans won the game, but Rose knew that tempers were high within the friendships.

------

Mr. Dawson dropped Rose off at school early Tuesday morning because he had a meeting to get to at work. Her early arrival was the only reason she saw the gaggle of girls standing on the landing at the large window that faced the back lawn. Rose saw Linda and Gina among them.

"Oh, he's so cute."

"He's in my third period class."

She shrugged it off and proceeded to walk up the stairs past to her locker until she heard Petey's voice.

"What y'all staring at old Sunshine for? I'm the one dominating on the field. He ain't played a minute all year."

'_Silly charmer, always the flirt.'_ Rose stopped a few feet from the stairwell to listen.

"Who cares about the field?" one of the girls replied as the crowd began to walk up the stairs.

'_Typical girl response. They don't care how good of an athlete a player is, just what he looks like.'_ Rose rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't want to be the one to break your heart, but Sunshine's from California," Petey began to explain why the boy in question was unworthy of the girls' attentions.

'_Probably to get their attention on him, no doubt.'_

"Yeah, a Californian dream boat," a girl cooed.

"No. Sunshine is from _Cali-forn-ia_."

'_What does his origin have to do with it?'_

"He's a _Californian_ – " Petey began before a stocky, dark-haired boy grabbed his arm at the top of the stairs.

"You talking to my girl?" he asked as a handful of other boys gathered around.

'_Uh oh Petey, what have you gotten yourself into?'_

"I don't see any livestock around here, so I don't know what you talkin' 'bout," Petey answered, witty as ever. The boys pushed him across the hallway and against a set of lockers. "Oooh," Petey let out as he found his face against cold steel.

'_Petey!'_ Rose took a step forward, knowing full well she wouldn't be of any help.

"It's a fight!" a boy announced.

"Guys, stop it!" One girl pleaded.

A few black boys came from behind Rose to help Petey.

"Get off me, get off me!"

"Hey!" someone yelled.

"You want some?" Petey said defiantly.

Rose stood rooted to the ground, eyes wide.

Gerry came to Petey's aid from the other side of the stairwell. "Break it up, break it up!"

"Get your hands off me man!"

Some of the black boys pushed at Gerry and Julius came to his rescue.

"Get your hands off me!"

A girl screamed.

"Petey, get these girls out of here," Julius directed.

"Get out of here," Petey, having gotten free, herded the girls back and a few other students on their way.

"Uncle Tom traitor!" one of the black boys spat.

"Uncle Tom!" another echoed.

Julius backed away. "I know you didn't call me no Uncle Tom. Y'all better back off me now, man. Go! Move!"

The boys dispersed. The stocky boy who had started it all paused by Gerry, no doubt insulting him. He and his friends left. "Oh, big smart guy, huh?" Gerry called after him.

The two athletes met in the middle of the hallway as Rose rushed to them. Gerry had a bloody nose and half of his shirt was no longer tucked in. Petey came from around the corner.

"Are you guys ok?" Rose questioned. Besides Gerry's bloody nose, they looked fine. She dug in her backpack for a Kleenex and handed it to Gerry.

"Yeah, we alright," Julius answered heavily.

"Gerry, you goin' to be alright with that bleeding?" Petey asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

The warning bell rang.

"We best all be off before we late for class, don't need no more trouble," Julius advised.

Rose nodded with everyone else and hurried to her locker, grabbed her books, then back down the stairs to get to lit class on time. She noticed the blonde-haired boy that the girls had been looking at. He was picking up his books in preparation for his first class. He glanced up at the same moment that Rose paused to see what all the girls' excitement had been about. Pale green eyes met brown for a split second; Rose broke away to rush to her class, as did the boy.

Having barely made it to her lit class before the tardy bell rang, Rose pondered where she'd seen the boy before. He did look oddly familiar. Feeling inspired by the boy, she pulled out her writing notebook and jotted down a few plot ideas for the assignment given last week. It took Rose the rest of the hour to remember the boy: he had been the one who'd gone back into the boys' locker room after the first football game.

Rose went over the picture of him in her mind. _'What do the girls see in him? The only thing I can see really different about him is his hair, it's longer than most guys' hair. It is kind of a neat look on him though. Whatever they do see in him… I guess I might have to agree. He _is_ kind of cute, I guess… –'_

The bell broke into her thoughts and she hurriedly packed her bag up and went off to her Spanish class, pulling at her memory to remember what Gerry and Petey had called him…

------

Dialogue taken from the movie, not my own.

Would it hurt for you people to leave an actual review? Please? You know, an author hates the "Update!" That's... it?? Can anybody possibly give constructive criticims anymore? Can you possibly comment on the content of the fic??

Rad


	8. The Nickname

Shy

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Thank you **Windblader**, **lovebuggy** and **acrazychick**for the real reviews!! I greatly appreciate it. And yes, there needs to be more non-movie dialogue. The first several chapters are more for introduction, but after that last one, they're more my own that from the movie.

**Lovebuggy** – Thank you so much for the kind words!! ((Blushes))

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Chapter 8: The Nickname

"So they actually put out fewer tables during the warmer days, to encourage students to go outside during lunch period?" Rose asked Beth as the two made their way through the lunch line.

Beth nodded. "Yeah, kinda weird." She shrugged.

Rose scanned the more-full-than-normal cafeteria. A light rain and fog had permeated the landscape, so fewer people were outside. Beth had just confirmed that indeed there were more tables in the lunch room than normal and that it wasn't Rose's imagination.

Both girls joined Alison at 'their' table and traded hellos with the other girl. Rose had just finished her second bite of chicken and was taking a third when a familiar voice asked if there was room with them. Rose looked around to see Gerry, Ray, Julius, and Petey standing behind her. Rose glanced at Beth sitting across from her, who nodded, then leaned over the table a little to regard Alison. The brunet still had her nose stuck in her book, not paying any attention to the newcomers. There would still be a chair between her and the boys, so Rose figured it was ok. She nodded to the athletes, "Sure, have a seat."

Gerry sat down beside Rose, Ray on the other. Julius and Petey sat down next to Beth. Rose introduced the other girl to the athletes.

"Wonderful weather we're having, isn't?" Gerry asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, damned awful," Ray responded. "With it practice is going to suck, being with the mud and all."

Rose mentally winced at Ray's language, but that thought was dashed from her mind when someone's foot lightly connected with her own, then didn't move. Rose inwardly blushed, then pulled her feet under her chair.

"Yeah, we deal with the mud though. Mist is what I'm more worried about, man. We won't be able to see no nothin' with it."

"You won't be able to see anything because of the mist?" Rose said, correcting Julius' statement without thinking.

"Nope, not a thing," Petey confirmed.

'_He totally missed the point. Oh well, they're athletes, they don't really care about their grammar. You're such a writer, Rose Ann. Might as well get used to it, they – '_ Rose's train of thought was derailed when a knee – it had to be Ray's, from the angle – bumped in to her own. His knee brushed hers a second and third time, not moving away after the third. Rose felt a blush creeping up her cheeks and pulled her knee away. She realized Gerry was asking her something.

"Are you comin' to Rev's again tonight Rose?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Hey, can Beth come along too?" Rose asked, glancing at the other girl, asking her if she wanted to come.

Beth, who had been talking to Julius, heard her name and turned to Rose. "Would you like to come and study with us at Rev's tonight?"

"Sure, sounds like fun."

"Great! I won't be the only girl for once," Rose grinned. She noticed Ray had begun to scowl. She wondered if it was because she had moved her leg from his flirty reach; but he had begun scowling at the mention of going to Rev's, so maybe it was for another reason.

Petey chuckled. "Girl, you know you like it, bein' the only pretty thing within five feet of us!"

Rose pretended to glare at him while Gerry said his name warningly. Ray's scowl deepened.

"Well, Blue an' I are going to the library to study for our biology test seventh hour, we see you at Rev's later." He picked up his tray and proceeded to leave.

"Wait, are you skipping sixth period?" Rose asked.

"Sure are girl!" Rose shook her head at him. Petey chuckled and walked away.

"I have to get going too, see y'all later," Gerry said, following behind Petey.

Everyone echoed a farewell as he left. A moment later Ray stood up. "I gotta go too. Can I take you girls' trays?" He kept his eyes on Rose, not looking at Beth.

Rose felt her cheeks blush again as she said yes, making eye contact with Beth. The other girl gave her a secret smile. They nodded and thanked him.

"An' you said somethin' 'bout bein' outnumbered?" Julius teased as Ray left.

"Ha, now you know what it feels like." Rose poked back.

Julius chuckled. "Well, while I enjoy the company, I have to be getting' on too. See you girls tonight."

"See you," both girls responded.

Rose glanced at Alison, who still had her nose stuck in her book and didn't seem the least upset that the boys had sat with them. Rose pondered if she was so wrapped up in her book that she hadn't noticed. _'And speaking of not noticing, Ray didn't even acknowledge Petey and Julius. He started frowning at the mentioning of going to Rev's… I wonder: is he one of the people that still view blacks as beneath them? Either way, he has the totally wrong way of flirting with me. Does he think that because he's Gerry's friend he might have it good with me, that he can just start having contact like that?'_ Rose shook her head.

---

"Petey, don't you know that this is a residential area? And that a double white line like that means you're not supposed to pass?" Rose asked later that day, referring to the offenses that Petey had just committed before pulling in to Rev's driveway.

"See? Didn't I tell you? The almighty Ra has a thing for rules." Petey jabbed Blue in the ribs. "All hail Ra-Maat!" Both boys mock bowed to her a few times.

Rose raised an eyebrow, impressed. "And when do you have time to look up Egyptian deities?"

"Ha-ha! Looked that one up while I was in the library skippin' class today," Petey answered.

"Oh, right, you looked it up while you were supposed to be studying, huh?" Rose teased him.

"Ooooh, you been caught boy!" Blue shouldered Petey.

"Bah, makes no difference. The nickname still stands. We have a goddess in our midst, Ra-Maat, great-granddaughter of Ra and keeper of the law!" Petey crowed. He and Blue swung their arms about the others' shoulders and marched to the house, repeating 'Ra-Maat' over and over in a sing-song voice.

"You two crack me up," Rose called, following after them.

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A bit on the short side and with very little action…. Eh.

Rad


	9. The Title

Author's Notes:  
Seems like whenever you guys say "less movie stuff" I deliver. :)

**pj** - I think you have just become one of my top favorite internet person... I too leave feedback for every chapter of (shorter/in beginning stages) fics!! That made me SO happy to see all those email notices in my inbox the other night. ((Blushes)) Thank you!! And I will shoot you a message/email with more lengthly responses.

**Sundiata** - That is a pretty name! Yeah, a lot of the stories I've read too are all "Look! BOY!!" XD I've never had a boyfriend and I'm kinda shy myself in that area, so I decided to try the other angle of it. I'm glad you like the way I write; often I'm worried if I have too much detail! I'm glad someone else has taken notice of Cody/Derek too. There are so many writers that focus just on the main/second-main characters and don't make any mention of minor ones. Thank you for the review!

**CylentWind, LoveBuggy, OTHlover04** - Thank you all so much for the reivews!!

Shy

Chapter 9: The Title

Rose shivered in her history class on Tuesday, feeling eyes on her. _'That boy is giving me the creeps! He's been staring at me for nearly a week and it freaks me out! Not only does he stare during history, he's tried to come up to me a few times. He acts like a hunter stalking his prey, not like some boy with puppy-love.'_ The boy in question had very short dark brown hair, stood probably a little taller than Rose and had a look of a predator about him, his eyes were always narrow and his face was pinched. He'd approached her several times since Rose had caught him looking at her in class and mostly she'd just rushed away or dove for the nearest restroom. She also discovered that he watched her during lunch. Twice he'd managed to corner her, asking her if she'd go home with him, to "study." Rose didn't want to know his true agenda and had politely given him a firm 'no.'

The bell rang and Rose tore out of her class. After several yards of hurrying away she slowed to catch her breath. Her shivers returned a hundredfold when she felt someone breath in her ear and an arm go about her shoulders.

"Why are you rushing away so fast baby doll? You free tonight?"

Rose shouldered him away from her. "No, I am not free tonight or any other night. And I would appreciate it if you left me alone."

"I know you like it; you don't have to hide it. C'mon over."

"Hi Rose. Is this boy bothering you?" Julius materialized out from the crowd of students in the hallway, Petey and Blue flanking him. Rose let out an obvious sigh of relief.

"Bothering her? She's my girl, how could I be bothering her?" the boy cockily replied.

Rose gave the boy a disgusted look.

"Boy, you get your signals straightened out; she don't like you not at all!" Petey stated.

"Besides, this girl is a Titans' girl. No nobody with her without the approval of her brothers," Blue added

Julius nodded. "You mess with Rose, you mess with the football captain Gerry Bertier. You mess with my brother, you mess with me. You mess with the both of us, you mess with the Titans."

"You anger one, you get the wrath of all," Petey threatened.

"We take care of our own," Blue pointed out.

The boy seemed to be getting the hint. He looked almost scared as he turned up his nose and strutted away.

Rose let out a huge sigh of relief. "You guys have no idea how grateful I am. Thank you so much."

"Any time sister, any time," Julius said, putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him briefly.

"Yeah little sister, any time you need the big bros you just holler," Blue confirmed.

"You want us to go an' pound him for you?" Petey asked, a wide grin on his face.

"You're so humble," Rose teased as they separated and headed off to their classes. Petey bowed.

---

"I hear you're part of the family now, eh sister?" Gerry asked later that day as he dropped Rose off after the study session. "Julius told me some jerk was botherin' you and he and Blue and Petey scared him off."

"Yeah, they couldn't have shown up at a better time."

"Well, like they said, you're part of the group; you ever need anything and we'll be there."

"Thanks, it's good to know."

"Becky was wonderin' if you could come over sometime." Gerry chuckled. "She's startin' to get sick of me goin' on about football. Asked if you could come over and talk about somethin' besides that with her. You're like the sister she's always wanted."

Rose smiled at the comment. "Yeah, I'm free pretty much every day of this week; around homework of course. I'll talk to Dad, maybe I could have supper with your family some night?"

"Sounds great. Becky'll be happy."

---

Petey and Blue continued to call Rose by her 'goddess' nickname, but intermittently used the sisterly title. It even began to wear off on some of the other boys too. Rose found it comforting and began to feel at home with the group.

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If anybody has a suggestion on how I end this, that'd be appreciated. I don't like my little three sentence paragraph ending… Gr. Not really much action... but better than the last chapter... dur... It gets much better, I promise

Rad


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